Road Salt and Your Drinking Water

Road Salt may be Contaminating Your Drinking Water

Those living in areas with bad winter weather are familiar with the large plows and salt spreaders used to help keep the roads safe for travel.

One unexpected and serious side effect of heavy use of road salts and de-icing chemicals in the winter months may be found in your drinking water.


Damage to the nearby soil, vegetation, birds and to other wildlife is well documented. Even worse, the chemicals in road salts are finding their way into our water sources.

Road salt compounds can contaminate lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and water reservoirs by direct runoff or by moving through the soil and into groundwater. As sodium and chloride levels increase in the winter months, they can affect quality of roadside water sources and render the water undrinkable.

Other substances in road salts and de-icers include chemicals such as ferrocyanide, chloride and other metals that are measured in parts-per-billion.

Your Water May be at Risk

In the Northern U.S., bad winter weather is a fact of life. But today, even some southern regions of the country are increasingly hammered by snow and ice storms ever year. And road salts are just one potential problem that can affect the quality of your water supply.

Contamination in Ice Cubes

Girl's Science Project May Make You Rethink That Drink Order


By MICHELE SAGER , The Tampa Tribune Tampa Bay Online


TAMPA - Those ice-cold drinks from favorite fast food restaurants may not seem as refreshing after a seventh-grader's science project reveals what may lurk inside the cup.

Benito Middle School student Jasmine Roberts examined the amount of bacteria in ice served at fast food restaurants.

Her project won the science fair at the New Tampa school, and she hopes to win a top prize at the Hillsborough County Regional Science and Engineering Fair, which starts Tuesday.

The 12-year-old compared the ice used in the drinks with the water from toilet bowls in the same restaurants. Jasmine said she found the results startling.

"I thought there might be a little bacteria in the ice, but I never expected it to be this much," she said. "And I never thought the toilet water would be cleaner."

Her discovery: Seventy percent of the time, the ice had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Geoff Luebkemann, director of the division for hotels and restaurants at the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said people shouldn't swear off fast food ice just yet. His state agency regulates Florida businesses, including coordinating health inspections.

"Ice machines are part of the health inspections," Luebkemann said. "There are a lot of factors that have to be considered, like how accurately did she gather and test her specimens. Plus, comparing the ice to toilet water can be misleading because there are acceptable levels of bacteria for water."

Jasmine said she has always been interested in water quality and its link to health issues. Last year, she compared hotel ice to toilet water. She decided to branch out to restaurants this year.

She is a previous county winner, and her brother won a top prize last year for his project.

For this project, Jasmine visited five fast food restaurants near the University of South Florida. She collected ice samples from self-service dispensers inside the restaurants, as well as ice from drinks served through drive-through windows. She also collected samples of toilet water from those restaurants.

She placed the samples into sterile containers and tested them at a lab at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, where she volunteers with a USF professor.

Jasmine found that in four of the five restaurants, the ice that came from the self-serve machines had more bacteria than the toilet water. Three of the five cups of ice from the drive-through windows had more bacteria than the toilet water.

Of the bacteria found in the ice, three out of the five restaurants tested positive for fecal coliform or E. coli, organisms that come from the feces of warm-blooded animals.

Health symptoms related to the presence of coliform include cramps and diarrhea. E. coli can cause intestinal illness and, in rare cases, hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious kidney condition.

Jasmine offers several theories for the contamination.

"The machine may not be cleaned properly, or it comes from someone touching the ice with their hands," she said.

Galina Tuninskaya, vice president of Applied Consumer Services, a private lab that tests drinking water, said the standard for drinking water is usually 100 colony-forming units of bacteria per milliliter. The highest amount Jasmine found was 54 units in ice from a self-serve machine.

Tuninskaya said the acceptable level varies for each type of bacteria.

"No levels of fecal coliform or E. coli are acceptable," she said. "If you find that, you've got a problem."

Jasmine won't reveal the locations she tested, for legal reasons, but she did present her findings to the restaurants and various government agencies.

"I think this is important because these bacteria can seriously affect people with weak immune systems," she said.

She said the restaurant managers or owners she spoke with were surprised by the results because, they said, they clean the machines regularly.

Several managers said they plan to use the information to change procedures, Jasmine said. One manager even asked her to come back and test the temperature of the food.

As for Jasmine, she has changed her ordering habits.

"No way," she said. "After this, I definitely don't get ice."


URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11318353/

FAQ: Minerals in my Water?

We often get a question about whether it is important to have minerals in the water we drink. You may see other "waters" which add various minerals and make claims about the benefit of them.

The fact is pure water, like Aqua Di Vita, is the best way to provide your body it's most effective hydration.

A myth many people believe is that certain spring or mineral waters provide them with a good source for minerals.

Consider this two quotes from world-renowned sources.

The minerals which the human body needs that are in the water are insignificant to those in food… and anyone simply eating a varied diet, not even a balanced diet, could hardly suffer a mineral deficiency.
- American Medical Journal,

The only minerals that the body can utilize are the organic minerals. All other types of minerals are foreign substances to the body and must be eliminated.
-Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic.

The only thing that belongs in your water is water!

Get your minerals from your food by eating a proper diet, or if necessary you can supplement with a qualify mineral supplement. Minerals in water are insignificant is because they are in an inorganic state, whereas minerals in food are in an organic state.

Top 10 Reasons to Drink Aqua Di Vita Water

Every system in your body depends on water.

Top 10 reasons why you should make drinking 8-10 glasses of water part of your daily routine.

1. Get healthy skin. Drinking water moisturizes your skin from the inside out. Water is essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness.

2. Lose weight. Don't confuse thirst with hunger. Increased water consumption can help you control your weight. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the proper hydration and energy needed during exercise.

3. Flush toxins. Water helps flush toxins--proper water intake lessens the burden on your kidneys and liver.

4. Reduce your risk of a heart attack. Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.


5. Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. Drinking water before, during, and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.

6. Water helps prevent constipation by adding fluid to the colon and bulk to stools, making bowel movements softer and easier to pass.

7. Stay hydrated, get energized, and be alert. On average, most adults lose about ten cups of fluid a day through sweating, waste elimination. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, fatigue, headaches, and irritability.

8. Regulate your body temperature. Perspiration is your body's natural mechanism to control body temperature. In order to perspire you need plenty of water.

9. Reduce your risk of disease and infection. Water can help prevent kidney stones and reduce your chances of getting bladder, kidney, and urinary tract infections. One study found that women who drank more than five glasses of water a day had a risk of colon cancer that was 45 percent less than those who drank two or fewer glasses a day.

10. Get well. The traditional prescription to "drink plenty of fluids" when you're sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus.

Sources: www.WebMD.com, www.mayoclinic.com